So when can normal life resume?
Who knows?
The metrics keep changing.
What we do know is: the arbitrariness will continue.
New Zealand's strategy seems to be that at a moment's notice society will be harshly shut down, even over a trivial number of "cases."
All over the world, businesses have been shut down, or ordered to restructure, or told they can open at 25% or 50% capacity.
Landlords have been told that tenants must be allowed to stay and cannot be evicted.
All these people are being in effect required to pay the costs of the shutdown policy.
Who will want to be a landlord now? Fewer people, that's for sure.
Who will want to start a traditional business? Fewer people, that's for sure.
And then, when there is less housing available and fewer businesses, the left will claim that this is a defect of "capitalism," and use it as an excuse for a further power grab.
So:
If I hadn't managed to persuade you before that having a business they can't shut down might be a good idea, maybe now we can agree ol' Woods might be on to something?
This is scary stuff, my friend.
Yes, we want to get out there and promote liberty for all.
But right now, we need to think about our own well-being, first and foremost.
Hence the most important link of 2020:
Tom Woods